Airship

Flying along the flight path known as Garden Street on the ground and Flower Valley in the sky, Jiang Han slowed her broom. Although the sky was sweltering, she had no impression of this particular route.

The Flower Valley flight path was filled with a vast number of floating soil chunks, each only a few cubic meters in size, planted with flowers and trees like a green asteroid belt.

She adjusted her angle and flew slightly lower, positioning herself under the shade of the trees in the sky. Feeling the cool breeze, a cheerful Jiang Han watched the fox witch flying ahead.

The other girl's "driving skills" were quite impressive; she was neither too fast nor too slow, making it easy to "tail" her. In terms of this driving technique, it was almost identical to the chauffeurs of the leaders she had seen before her transmigration. Her own driving skills in her past life were a bit regrettable, but in this world, she had become slightly proficient with a broom; as long as she was bold enough, she could even pull off some fancy tricks.

Occasionally, she could see some witches resting on the small floating islands, holding books and reading.

There was even one on a tree-covered island eating hot pot while reading. When that witch saw Jiang Han fly by, she smiled at her, pressed her four fingers together with her thumb tucked into her palm, and pointed her fingertips toward her brow, "Greetings, comrade."

Jiang Han was stunned for a moment, then raised her hand to return the salute, nearly knocking her witch hat off.

This drew a light chuckle from the witch.

"Greetings, comrade, goodbye, comrade," Jiang Han whispered, then picked up speed to catch up with Li Li.

Flying out of the Flower Valley route, the air suddenly grew hot. Nowadays, the witch world had "gas stations" of various sizes built along every route. Each route had several, appearing as small floating platforms connected to the ground by retro elevators. They were circular platforms with a floating water sphere in the center that emitted freezing air, while the rings were lined with benches for resting and vending machines selling drinks.

She also saw mounts like griffins and giant falcons, as well as the very distinctive witch taxis.

These taxis looked like a square floating chunk of earth, roughly 4x4x2 meters, topped with a small treehouse made of wood that resembled a forest witch's cabin, though it had no door. Passengers could sit inside, where there were magazines, drinks, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Outside, it was pulled forward by two or three griffins, with a two-person-wide seat acting as a control console rigged between the griffins, where the witch driver controlled the beasts and the floating cabin behind.

Most of those drivers were beautiful and carried themselves with great poise.

Just like taxi drivers between the 90s and 00s, they were confident, held a decent status, and were much wealthier than the average wage earner; some even used their own vehicles for business.

"My family used to have one," Li Li said.

Oh? Jiang Han thought: If they had one before, it means they don't now. It seems this girl's family used to be well-off, though that's normal; with all the magic items Li Li has on her, she feels like the type whose ancestors had a grand background.

"We sold it after moving to the South to save up for a house in South City," Li Li said with a hint of regret.

"Buying a house is good, too. Property prices should be rising soon."

Jiang Han recalled the news about that super-large folded space. It seemed the news hadn't leaked to the public yet, as property prices in South City remained lukewarm. They were neither high nor low; a 200-square-meter empty island could be bought for less than 200,000 yuan. Although property prices on the witch world line were low, if the news leaked, they might start to skyrocket crazily.

It was possible that a large number of Archwitches from all over the world would apply for temporary residence permits to live in South City.

No matter how well it was developed, land prices were bound to soar; that was a certainty.

Comrade Jiang Xuan did indeed have a good relationship with her superiors and the heads of various departments—she could even find out about news like this—and her family had been saving money recently, wanting to buy a couple more empty islands.

"Yes, they will rise soon," Li Li said.

The two chatted for a while about property prices. After discussing the inevitable relationship between the folded space and rising prices in a somewhat veiled manner, their relationship seemed to grow a bit closer.

Both were interested in the griffin taxis, so they went straight to one marked "Wine Immortal Ridge Full Territory, All Airship."

The driver was a black-haired, golden-eyed witch, quite petite, with a build similar to Jiang Han's. She wore a red miniskirt robe, open-toed red sandals with red socks, and a red witch hat. Seeing them walk over, she greeted them energetically: "Yo-ho! Where are you two witch ladies headed? It's 10 yuan to anywhere within Wine Immortal Ridge, and drinks and fruit are on the house!"

Jiang Han nodded. 10 yuan was quite fair; a witch bus ticket cost nearly 2.5 yuan just to cross one district. "We're going to the airship for the Dream Garden South City Witch Training Institute."

The driver nodded: "Alright, that's right above the Sea of Spirits Mist in Wine Immortal Ridge."

There was a bit of unpleasantness while boarding; the floating cabin was a bit high, and Jiang Han felt she couldn't jump up to it, so she had to be lifted up by Li Li's hands. But once inside, she felt much better. It was a spacious and comfortable room, and on the left window of the treehouse, there was a stone emitting cold air, just like a car with built-in air conditioning.

The driver whistled softly and flicked the reins.

Unlike riding a broom, sitting in the center of a griffin carriage made one feel instantly relaxed, without that constant mental tension that came with controlling a broom. Even Li Li, who usually had a serious expression, narrowed her eyes and relaxed, her fox ears twitching.

Because the other girl was larger in stature, even though the carriage was quite spacious, Jiang Han could observe her partner at close range.

She was finally able to see the blue fluorescent spell patterns on the side of her partner's bodysuit that she had been curious about earlier.

It was a line of Latin text:

[The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles]

...What the hell, The Communist Manifesto!

Jiang Han couldn't say a word for a long time. It felt both "logical" and "magical." Yes, foreign witches could mark their wands or robes with verses from the Bible or famous works, so why couldn't a witch from New China write the Communist Manifesto on her undergarments? It was perfectly reasonable.

It was just that this black bodysuit was a bit too erotic, not in line with the current core values of society. But looking at it from another angle, the person was wrapped up tightly from head to toe, even her feet and hands were covered by the suit, and most of her neck was covered too—how could you call that erotic?

The driver outside was dressed much more skimpily!

Jiang Han shifted her gaze to look out the window. Wine Immortal Ridge contained a massive cluster of floating islands, and these islands were home to numerous wine springs; it was also the country's largest producer of Wine Stone. Wine Stone was a material commonly needed for mid-level spells and potions. It looked like a small piece of amber-colored stone, and soaking it in water for half an hour could turn the surrounding water into low-alcohol wine. The higher the quality of the Wine Stone, the higher the alcohol content of the resulting wine.

Wine Immortal Ridge was also famous far and wide for its spectacular Sea of Spirits Mist.

--Every year, there were a few unlucky witches who, due to excessive inhalation of the wine mist, would pass out near Wine Immortal Ridge and become a running joke at the local police station.

After circling into the depths of Wine Immortal Ridge, the environment became gradually more primitive, and one could see many strange beasts on the ground. Moreover, the air was filled with the scent of ale.

This scent became even more intense after reaching the Sea of Spirits Mist, and the witch driver had to take out her wand to cast a transparent filter shield for herself.

This place gave Jiang Han the feeling of the immortal sects like Mount Shu mentioned in xianxia novels. She thought with a slight blush, if an immortal sect were built here, everyone who came out would probably be a wine immortal.

Above the thick wine mist, a massive airship was docked. It was about 400 meters long and 46 meters wide—a giant in every sense of the word. On its lower deck were many docking platforms, allowing griffin carriages or witches on brooms to land and enter the airship.

"We've arrived, ladies," the driver said, stopping on the platform.

"Thank you for your trouble," Li Li said first, then paid the fare.

After getting off the griffin carriage and presenting their tutoring class credentials, they quickly arrived at the cafe on the upper deck of the airship, where they enjoyed the scenery and read books while waiting for the lecturer to arrive.